Casino Rewards wins ASA case
News on 3 Oct 2015
News on 3 Oct 2015
Apollo Entertainment Ltd, which operates the Casino Rewards online gambling enterprise, had to defend a serious age-related issue reported to the Advertising Standards Authority last month. Whilst it was successful, the case did highlight a potential problem area for the industry.
The complaint came from a member of the public who reported that Casino Rewards had emailed an online gambling promotional offer to his 14-year-old grandson.
The ASA took up the case with Malta-based Apollo and the company responded by explaining that the teenager had created an online account, falsifying his year of birth to represent that he was of gambling age.
However, because no financial transactions had occurred on the account, there had been no age verification checks, hence the promotional material emailed to the account holder. Apollo said that it had taken steps to ensure that the recipient would not be sent further mailings.
The ASA ruled in favour of Apollo, reporting in its assessment:
“The ASA understood that the recipient’s details had been obtained when they specifically signed up to create an account with a gambling operator, during which a date of birth was given that led the advertiser to understand that the recipient was over 18 years of age.
“In light of this, and in the absence of any information that might have indicated that the recipient was a child, we considered that it was reasonable for them to rely on the age data provided without taking any additional steps to verify it. We acknowledged that the mailing had been sent to a recipient under 18, but considered that in using the data available to them, and in the absence of any indication that the account holder was a child, the advertiser had acted in good faith. We therefore concluded that the ad had not breached the Code by being directed at a child.
“We investigated the ad under CAP Code (Edition 12) rules 1.3 (Social responsibility), and 16.1 and 16.3.13 (Gambling), but did not find it in breach.”
